The Fast Food Restaurant That Cooks Meat Sous Vide

When most people think of meat cooked at a fast food restaurant, the grill is the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, not every establishment goes with the flow. Between braising, roasting, and sautéing, commercial kitchens have several options at their disposal to prepare proteins. One company, in particular, chooses to break the mold by employing the often underused technique of sous vide to cook its meat.

Chipotle Mexican Grill serves customers Tex-Mex-style cuisine at over 3,600 locations scattered across the United States. The company prides itself on the quality of its food, a point driven home by only using 53 ingredients. Its chicken is grilled, and the pork is slow-braised, but the beef gets extra special treatment. Chipotle makes its steak and beef barbacoa for perfectly folded burritos and other menu options using the sous vide method to achieve a tender, mouthwateringly juicy cook.

Not long ago, there was a trend of folks leaving Chipotle mid-order to protest what they viewed as stingy portions — but there was always the draw of impeccably prepared beef to bring them back for another try. Unfortunately, people don't often hear about fast food restaurants using the sous vide method to cook meat. The technique can be intimidating to those unfamiliar with how it works, but in reality, it is as simple as heating water to just the right temperature.

No matter what meat you are working with, preparing it using the sous vide method guarantees it will finish at exactly the temperature you want. Once your protein is secured in a vacuum-sealed bag, it is put into a hot water bath that remains the same temperature throughout the entire procedure. That allows the meat to cook evenly because it is submerged, and the temperature stays consistent; there is no way to overcook it.

Restaurants like Chipotle that cook for the masses typically opt to use large countertop water ovens to keep the temperature of the liquid consistent. Home cooks can do this if they have the room, but a more compact version of the sous vide technique utilizes an immersion circulator and a simple pot of water. Both methods give the ultimate control over how done their meat will be — one is just more expensive and takes up more room in the kitchen.

Still, there are some drawbacks to sous vide. An enticing sirloin will come out as rare as you prefer, but because it has been heated in water, it won't have that exquisite crusty sear that steak lovers crave. A flawless steak would need a few minutes in a cast-iron pan to reach its potential. There is also the time factor. Slowly cooking meat in a water bath helps achieve the perfect temperature, but it can take quite a while, depending on how large the cut is. It is a whole lot quicker to have Chipotle sous vide meat for you.